Tommy's Winter Garden Visit

The Anti-War Solar Powered Up The System Bike Trailer

...working on the chain gang.....

I know my car keys are in here somewhere...

Wood Anyone?

Our Gang

What Is A Fens? What is the Fenway?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Bay_Fens

Big Bad Weed

Here's the skinny on the beautiful purple-flowered pant that made up 75% of the garden...

"Purple Loose-strife
(Lythrum salicaria )

No flowering plant in the Northeast has caused as much concern as the European, marsh-loving Purple-Loose-strife. Crowding out other wetland species with its tenacious root system, Purple Loose-strife is changing the face of many of our freshwater marshes, by turning them into biologically unproductive monocultures. The sometimes vast magenta flowerbeds attract bees and butterflies to their blossoms, but offer no sustenance to higher life-forms. Efforts to control the species by pulling it up have been fruitless. Introducing European beetles that feed exclusively on this plant may prove the best defense.."

Since the garden is in a wetlands area, this invasive plant went wild.

What does this say about appearances?

Buried Treasure

Below are photos of ferns and some kind of lilly that are thriving close to the ground, well away from the sunlight.

Shaded by the flowering plants that are up to 6 feet tall, they can exist because they don't like full sunlight. This is called a symbiotic relationship. The ferns and lilly could not grow in this space if the bigger flowered plants weren't there to protect them form the sun.

I like to think there is room for all kind of musicians, all kinds of music. In the Western musical world, isn't it amazing that with only 12 notes there are hundreds of different genres?

How do you think the relationship between the ferns and the flowers is like music. How is it like the music business?

Inheritance

I joined this garden in May of 2008, then promptly got involved in a lengthy process to remove a kidney stone the size of Detroit.

So for 2 months - no gardening.

As such, the native plants that had "taken over" the garden space did their thing and continued to grow.

When I arrived (finally) I saw that an incredible, lush field of flowering plants, ferns, wild onions, and a wild array of unknown guests had taken root.

If I had planned this garden and planted these plants, would it be the same? Even if it looked the same?

The natural chaos of nature had taken a stand against human will and planning. With the help of the wind, bird shit, and over wintered seeds, this space had exploded into form and color.

How is that like musical improvisation? Those incredible mishaps that occur when we are in the groove and not thinking, not afraid - and boom! We find a new slant on the harmonic path.

Hidden Gifts

Spaced throughout the dreaded thorn barrier are delicate flowers of rare design. Why are they there? Are they somehow protected by the thorn hedge?

And why do we think the flowers are more beautiful than the thorns? As far as keeping intruders out, aren't the flowers really useless?

What does the tyranny of beauty mean? How can it effect our lives as performing artists and musicians? Is beauty truth? And where do we get our concepts of what beauty is?

What is the difference between a weed & a flower?

This is the hedge that protects the urban garden started as a space to meditate, teach, listen, and maybe even plant some tomatoes.

About 25 feet from here, crack cocaine and prostitution blend in with the waters of the Muddy River Reservation - part of the Fens from which Fenway Park takes its name.

Most gardeners have very protective fencing around their space, and have made good use of the thornier aspects of certain plant species.